Field of the Invention
The aspect of the embodiments relates to a method for managing a material used in a forming apparatus which forms a three-dimensional object.
Description of the Related Art
There have heretofore been systems which collect operation information about image forming apparatuses for forming an image on a sheet, such as a printing apparatus and a copying machine, via a network and do maintenance. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-159854 discusses a technique for receiving a notification related to a remaining amount of a consumable, such as toner, from an image forming apparatus and performing inventory management of the consumable.
Forming apparatuses, or three-dimensional (3D) printers, for forming a 3D object have become widely used in recent years. The foregoing management system may be used to do maintenance of forming apparatuses on a network in the future.
For the sake of continuous operation, a customer who owns a 3D printer holds an inventory of consumables including materials at an installation location of the 3D printer. The management system therefore needs to manage the size of the inventory of consumables for the 3D printer by the customer and arrange delivery of consumables to prevent the inventory from running out.
There are 3D printers of various forming methods. Various materials are provided according to the intended purposes of objects. Management of materials for 3D printers needs special consideration. Some materials need to be managed for quality maintenance. For example, polylactic acid (PLA) or polylactide of plant origin and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) for use as a support material are susceptible to humidity, and can gradually degrade in quality after the containers of the materials are unpacked. Stereolithography often uses resin, which is susceptible to ultraviolet rays and discolors when placed long in a location exposed to light. If a 3D printer processes food, the inventory of materials for forming use needs best-before date management.
The consumables discussed in the foregoing Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-159854 are inks and toners used in a printing apparatus. Such consumables are less likely to degrade in quality even if stocked for a relatively long time. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-159854, no particular consideration is therefore given to the foregoing issue.